Cabrini Day

Every year on November 13 (feast of St. Frances Cabrini), I tout my "Cabrini creds." (I do the same when encountering any of Mother Cabrini's Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.) All the books about Mother Cabrini talk about the "roach-infested tenement" in New Orleans that the sisters moved into. Well, here it is:
("Roach-infested tenement"indeed! This was pre-Orkin New Orleans! Everything was roach-infested!) For a century, the sisters ran a child-care ministry from this Creole home in the French Quarter. About ten years ago, it was sold to a developer. But before any of that, it was my great-great-grandfather's home. He moved his family out after ten-year-old "Filston" ("Sonny") died of scarlet fever. The living room where the child was waked became the convent chapel. I visited only once, while the sisters were still there.



On a side note, I hear that bloggers are going on a sympathy strike in solidarity with the WGA. I know that my writer friend Karen will understand if I continue my little project here...